Louise Haigh as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and first secretary will not have oversight of the Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA) which helps departments to “understand and reduce the impact of fraud.” That is moving to the Department of Work and Pensions as part of the overhaul of the Cabinet Office this morning. Chalk that up as a Guido victory…
The government still states of Haigh, who has a fraud conviction: “She is responsible for:
Co-conspirators can decide whether they think that’s appropriate…
UPDATE: A Cabinet Office spokesman responded:
“Changes to departmental structures were agreed ahead of Ministerial appointments. Several functions are being moved out of the Cabinet Office to slim down the centre of government, this includes the Public Sector Fraud Authority moving to the DWP because most work tackling fraud happens in that department. Claiming otherwise is completely inaccurate.”
Lucy Powell told Sky News that the Ed Miliband-Russell Brand interview happened in part because the ‘social media age’ had not begun by 2015:
“Look, I mean, he approached the Labour Party, he approached the campaign team, and we’re in very different times now. We weren’t in the social media age at the time – where you could maybe search things up and see allegations about somebody at the time. and as I say, if there was any suggestion at all, we were dealing with someone who was a known sexual predator at the time, then, of course, you know, no one would have done that. But as I say, he was a well known public figure. Lots of people from Hollywood to the BBC to many others gave this person a very, very powerful platform. And we didn’t know at the time, unfortunately. It was a different era.”